Had a chance to finish breaking down the log of camphor laurel (and yes, I’ve saved all the sawdust- it’s in a box ready for collection (a request from the roving reporter- not sure what he plans to do with it – didn’t want to ask!!))

Used the chainsaw attachment on the Torque Workcentre again – wanted to get a better understanding how to use it effectively. Grain direction does have a bearing on the ability to cut- especially for a lower powered saw, and a big aid is using wedges to hold the kerf open.

Once the chainsaw had penetrated far enough into the board that the wedges would not touch it, they were inserted into the back of the cut, and occasionally tapped deeper with a rubber mallet during the remainder of the cut.

I finished off getting an additional couple of backsawn boards, before ripping the remainder through the middle, rotating it 90 degrees and quartersawing it.

The beauty of preparing your own timber is you get to decide on the resulting thickness, rather than having to accept the very thin standard 19mm board.

These will become boxes or similar, may even be resawn again to bookmatch them, but in any case the final product will be one that I have taken right from a section of trunk through to the refined finish. That is woodworking. Tree to table, burl to box, sapwood to signature piece.